Austrian Cavalry Regiments and Their Commanders 1792-1815: the Hussars

The origins of the Hungarian hussars is from two sides.
The first came from the old Hungarian tradition of the light cavalry
archers (who raided almost all of Europe in the 10th Century). The other
came from the Balkans from the Turkish times of the 15th Century. The
hussars were ideal for the skirmish warfare but they were useful on
the battlefield too. The first irregular hussars in the Imperial service
fought in Western Europe in the middle of the 16th century. In the 17th
Century in the Imperial Army there were Croat regiments but these regiments
were raised not only in Croatian but in the whole Hungarian Kingdom.
Montecuccoli saw these units as an important parts of the army.

The first regular hussar regiment was raised in 1688
and the number of the regiments rose to 9 by 1792. One of these regiments
was the only Grenzer Hussar Regiment (the other four Grenzer Hussar
Regiments were disbanded in 1775 and 1780).

The Regiments consisted of four divisions in peace and
five in war. The eskadron had 202 men. With a 26 men strong staff and
the reserve eskadron the regiment’s full strength was 2248 in war. In
the war against the Turks, in 1788-1790, the 5th Divisions were not
raised.

In 1798, the 5th Divisions were taken from the regiments
and two new regiments were raised from these divisions. From the cavalry
element of the ”Wurmser Frei-Corps” a new regiment, the Croat-Slavonian
Grenzer Hussar Regiment was formed. That year the numbering changed
and the hussars received their own numbers.

In early 1801, the Croat-Slavonian Grenz Hussar Regiment
was disbanded but a new regiment was formed from the elements of the
Hungarian Insurrection (Cumans and Jazyger).

In 1802 the strenght of the eskadron was changed and
consisted of 191 men (including 35 men without horses) in peace and
215 (35 without horses) in war. The organisation changed again in 1807.
The eskadron had 164 men in peace and 156 in war (8 men were given to
the cadre of the Reserve Eskadron). The strength of the regiment in
war was 1481 men.

In the 1813-15 campaigns, each regiment formed two volunteer
divisions but these were disbanded after the war.

As Grenzer Regiment reCavalry Regiment uited from the
whole Székely Territory of Transylvania. In 1770 some areas were added
from the reCavalry Regiment uitment area of the dissolved Wallachian
Grenz Dragoon Regiment.

Headquarters during Peacetime

The permanent station was Sepsiszentgyörgy.

Hussar Regiment Number 12

Raised in 1800 as a part of the Hungarian Insurrection
in the Districts of the Jazyger, Cumans and Hayduken. In that year it
was reassigned as a Regular Hussar Regiment. The Colonel-in-Chief was
always the Hungarian Palatin.

Numbering

1802 Hussar Regiment 12 (This number was assigned between
1798 and 1801 to the Croatian-Slavonian Grenz Hussar Regiment but
it was dissolved in 1801)